Italian-based Company Symach Offers North American Body Shops New Technology

Friday, 19 June 2015 00:00

Italian-based Company Symach Offers North American Body Shops New Technology

Symach, an Italian-based company known for its fast-drying paint methods, is bringing its products to North America as well as setting up body shops with its patented technology. The company will be hosting a booth at the NACE show in Detroit, MI being held July 23-25.

Established in Bologna, Italy in 2001, Symach began as part of a research project for drying paint in a few seconds. The company holds numerous patents, including one for Drytronic technology, which allows for the drying of a clear lacquer in 50 seconds. Osvaldo Bergaglio, CEO of Symach, said Drytronic technology generates various infrared wavelengths, which penetrate directly into the paint molecule, instantly drying it. It can be used to dry various paints, materials and thicknesses.

Bergaglio said Symach has sold more than 2,400 drying robots to body shops. The company’s Symach Paint Application Process (SPAP) integrates the use of both Drytronic technology and a robot.

“Since it dries the paint in just a few seconds, the Drytronic technology enabled us to develop a painting process that significantly reduces flash-off times, as the robot performs the process even faster,” said Bergaglio. “When combined with the SPAP process, in fact, Drytronic technology reduces application and sanding time by 60 percent.”

Bergaglio said repair activities have changed recent years, with the majority of repairs shifting from larger and more structure-related issues, to smaller issues of a more aesthetic nature.

“Today, most body shops employ a single repair process, which, while certainly suitable for more extensive activities, in our opinion is poorly suited for activities involving the one to three panels that represent nearly 85% of total repair jobs.”

He said the company’s FixLine formula uses three different repair and layout processes, based on the number of panels to be repaired.

“In this manner, the system is capable of optimizing repair times and reducing labor costs by as much as four or five hours for each repair,” said Bergaglio.“FixLine is a new layout and repair process which, when combined with Drytronic technology and the SPAP painting cycle, provides for a 50 percent to 60 percent increase in productivity, as well as an increase of 1.5-2 repairs per week per technician.”

Since 2011, Symach has constructed new body shops around the world, with its FixLine formula. These include independent shops as well as MSOs. Over the last year, the company has focused its efforts on the North American market. Symach sold its first body shop in Burlington (Toronto), Ontario to CARS of Nick DiLuca, partner of CSN, a group with more than 330 bodyshops in Canada.

The new body shop is scheduled to be operational in November and will be built entirely with the Symach equipment and with the FixLine formula. “The process of preparation, painting and drying are automated with Symach robots,” said Bergaglio.

He said the new body shop will be able to repair 50 cars a week, reducing the cost of repair around 25% and reducing the key to key time to 1.5 days on average for more than 80% of the repairs.

“We are very excited about being the first shop in Canada to install the Symach system in our shop. The product is light years ahead if it's competitors, said DiLuca. “We at CSN Cars are confident it will reduce are key to key time drastically, and enhance our customers experience."

Others are scheduled to follow in December and January. In addition, Symach is organizing its own network of stores in North America to sell its products, which include: drying robots, spray booths, preparation bays, a sanding a vacuum system, a car mover system, a lighting system specific to the body shop, and a line of body shop furniture.